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New mining law changes in Mozambique will require International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd (ICVL) to list its recently acquired entity in the African country.
The company, jointly promoted by state-run enterprises Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL), NMDC, Coal India and NTPC, formally took control of coking coal assets in Mozambique in October this year from global mining giant Rio Tinto.
Around that time, the country enacted the new mining and tax laws, which requires the Indian company to list its assets in that country.
However, as the rules (under the new laws) have not yet been formalised, ICVL would get some time before acting on the requirement.
“We will comply with the regulations of Mozambique once the rules are framed,” said an ICVL official, who did not want to be identified.
After the recent changes in the law, ICVL got its acquired entity in Mozambique “formally approved”.
The company also proposed a change in the name of the entity, as the earlier one bore the Rio Tinto tag.
More shipments ICVL has so far shipped coking coal of around 70,000 tonnes from the operating asset – Benga – in the Tete province of Mozambique to India for use by SAIL. ICVL made two shipments in three months so far. From January onwards, International Coal Venture Ltd will ship every month as it puts in place its new operations team in Mozambique, said sources.
The metallurgical coal from ICVL will now be able to feed RINL and Tata Steel, too, in addition to SAIL.
Tata Steel has a 35 per cent stake in the Benga mine and an offtake agreement with the recently acquired entity.
Hiring to key posts Over the past three months, ICVL hired key officials for its Mozambique operations, including a chief financial officer, chief planning engineer, mine planning engineer, manager health and safety, project manager for exploration activity and manager port and logistics.
Apart from Benga, ICVL has two undeveloped coal deposits in the same province.
ICVL has been using the 500 km rail line and a river-mouth port Beria on the Indian Ocean for shipping coal to India. In 2015, ICVL will draw up a long-term plan for expansion of the Benga mine and begin exploration of other deposits as well as improve its logistics infra- structure.
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